Feedback Please!
by Luv 2 Write Romance
Summary: This is the prologue to a story I have dedicated so much time to I have three chapters already written up. Please let me know if you would like me to continue.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

Dan Phantom was backed into a corner with no powers. Clockwork and the Observants stood huddled around him.

"Now would be the best time to destroy him," one of the Observants said.

"No," Clockwork stated, "I have a job for him. A bargain really. You do me a favor, I give you back your powers. Do we have a deal?" A pause.

"What's the favor?" Dan questioned, suspicious. And rightfully so.

"Watch my daughter."

'What?' Ran through the mind of Dan and the Observants.

"That- That's it?!" One of the observants blurted as they all glanced at each other then looked to Clockwork.

"That's it. It's just for a few months."

"Months?!" Dan questioned.

"well I could put you back in the Fenton thermos for another four years." Had it really been that long?

"So who's the kid?"

"Her name is Charon, but she prefers Kay. She's 18."

"So where is she?"

"You'll need this." Clockwork tossed a medallion at him. It wasn't like Clockwork's usual medallions. This was black cloth with a small skull pendant at the end with Clockwork's insignia on the back. He put it on, and he saw a girl sitting on a floating scythe looking bored. It was obvious she had been there for quite a while.

"In her ghost form, anyone that does not possess a special sight cannot see her. She is also one-third human," Clockwork explained. She was adorned in a black, hooded cloak with her long hair swept over her shoulder in a ponytail. She looked him up and down before directing her attention elsewhere. She didn't seem excited about this arrangement anymore than he was.

"So, do we have a deal?" Clockwork asked. Dan glanced between Father Time and the Grim Reaper before nodding.


	2. Chapter 2

Dan and Charon settled into what could only be described as an uneasy acquaintance-ship. It was uneasy because neither one wanted Dan babysitting, granted for different reasons but nevertheless for the same issue. Charon's work was often the loneliest sort, something Dan could more or less relate to. He'd been alone since abandoning his humanity. From what she could tell, he got lonely rarely to never, and she wondered what would happen once he had nothing left to destroy. When his insatiable hunger for blood and death was left to starve.

Dan and Kay shared somewhat similar personalities, including stubbornness, a trait that was alternately respectable and infuriating. Dan was often bored with her work, having done it several times before, and found aggravating her in her spare time amusing. She didn't kill because it was their time, but only those who should die. It was kind of like running errands for her father – he knew what it would take to have the fate of the world travel on the path of least resistance. It seemed cruel on a smaller scale but on a much larger scale proved to be extremely beneficial.

Dan stood off to the side while watching Kay approach a young man in the hospital. He begged for his life, but Kay apologized and simply said she wasn't allowed to. Gripping her scythe with both hands, she split the man from throat to bellybutton, reached in and pulled out his soul which resembled a prisoner in a black and white striped outfit with heavy chains to weigh him down. His body lay on the hospital bed looking as if he'd never been cut.

"It's to the Ghost Zone with you," Kay said simply.

"Ghost Zone?"

"It's where ghosts with unresolved deaths, tormented souls, or bad spirits go when they've passed on. It acts as a hell for some but most souls are just lost so it serves as a sort of escapable purgatory."

"But nothing was wrong with my life." Kay pulled out a small book which fit easily in the palm of her hand and was no more than an inch thick. It contained the thoughts, actions, and decisions of every person to ever exist in this realm and others.

"Robert J. Little," Kay read aloud, "In sixth grade you stole from a grocery store – "

"It was just a candy bar!"

" – held up a drug store at age 17," she continued as if he'd never spoken, "Raped a girl at age 23, killed 3 women who threatened to go to the police when you molested them, and most recently stole the identity of a man in order to pay for your hospital bills after being hospitalized after getting in a car crash while driving under the influence. You won't get a chance at Paradise with a record like that."

"I had no real parental guidance!" he argued.

"That excuse was ruled out millennia ago. Lots of souls had no form of guidance and turned out fine."

"No, no, please!" He begged as she ripped open a portal to the Ghost Zone with her scythe, "Isn't there some challenge or fee I can pay to win my life back?"

"No," Kay said nonchalantly as she pushed him through the portal. It closed and she opened a new portal while nurses rushed to the aid of the dead beyond hope man, oblivious to the pair of apparitions in the room with them.

Kay and Dan stepped through the portal and into Amitypark where Kay lived in a penthouse apartment. Kay was 18 and had just graduated and was currently living on her own. How she afforded the apartment was on a strictly don't ask don't tell basis. She did her job, and she was supported.

"Danny," Kay started, ignoring his slight cringe at his former name, "Do you ever regret what you did?" He stared at her for a moment. Clearly this had not been expecting to hear.

"No," he said simply. She watched him for a good five minutes. He almost felt… uncomfortable under her unwavering gaze. Perhaps it was something that had to do with being a reaper? Kay was like most 18 year olds: naïve, in some cases wild, curious, and (mostly in just her case) emotionally erratic – as many youths are. But she was truly curious, she became incredibly observant, seeing the big picture as well as the details – probably a trait she inherited from her father.

"I think you do," she said switching from ghost to human.

"How would you know?" he asked, visibly irritated by her statement. And how _would_ she?

"Call it a hunch," she said, walking into the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice.

She was right though. He'd once admitted in his weaker moments, there were things he missed about people he used to know and had at one point loved. It was those damned memories he had, making him weak. It had been earlier in the week he and Kay had had one of their daily arguments about strength and the lack thereof. Kay argued true strength was taking the good with the bad and being weak was ignoring your inability to admit to yourself that you felt guilty about something. She was talking about him of course, but he knew she had a habit of alluding to things rather than being blunt. She hated bluntness. One reason she and Dan found it hard not to argue. Dan was only ever blunt about things. And that was with anything. For example: Kay would threaten you whereas Dan would shoot you point blank. Kay would hint at her ire where Dan would out right tell you that he hated you. Even Kay's, "I think you do," was her saying, "You and I both know you're resentful from time to time."

They also got along – as rare as such an occasion was. Whenever they talked and weren't arguing, they were whole-heartedly agreeing on something. Usually commenting on some of the souls that she had to reap. Some of them, even Dan thought, deserved to die: "Bastard had it coming." They might even share a laugh over it – as dark a joke it was. There were times when Dan could honestly say he respected her. Every day she stole away with the souls of the innocent while keeping her humanity intact, which was harder for someone with a conscience as opposed to himself who had no feelings of pity or a merciful personality. In fact, it seemed to have no effect on her at all.

"Do you ever regret what you do?" Dan asked her as they plopped down on the couch in the living room.

"No," she said nonchalantly, sipping her juice while he flipped to the news, "It's gotta be done, so I do it."

"Why'd you wanna be the grim reaper anyway?" he asked, turning his head to look at her. She frowned slightly, a scowl that communicated something between disgust and hatred – a look he'd never seen her have.

"I didn't want to be," she bit out. Now he was intrigued. He opened his mouth to ask another question.

"Drop it," she growled, her eyes flashed red – that was new. Her hand was clenched tight around her glass – any tighter and it'd break. Whatever it was, it had her pissed, yet the maddest he'd ever seen her was when they were arguing. Even then it wasn't real anger, merely a cross between annoyance and determination to prove him wrong. Her scowl deepened. Obviously she was still thinking about it. He turned his attention back to the TV, the conversation clearly over.

"Have you ever noticed how the reporters will say 'Good afternoon' before telling you how it's not he asked. She smiled, holding back a laugh. She'd always been a fan of irony. Whether it worked out good or bad in the end, irony always seemed to make her laugh. He didn't care about her happiness, but she was less of a pain in the ass when she was in a good mood.

Her phone buzzed.

"Sup," she said holding her phone in her free hand. Her expression changed to one of interest.

"Yeah, but I already told you he was a dick, so no shock there," she said with an eye roll. She set her juice on the table and slouched down into the cushions, her right hand still pressing the phone to her ear and her left hand draped lazily across her lap. "Yeah. I told you. He'll be with me a few months… Maybe, but it doesn't mean anything." Now she looked embarrassed and a little flustered, sitting up straight and gripping the edge of the couch. "N-no it's not like that! I'm gonna hang up now!" Dan could hear laughing on the other end and some muffled words. Kay relaxed back into the couch looking embarrassed. "Mm-hm… Luc's fine. He's taking me out Saturday… He's not my extra, and, yes, 'cause he's got no choice… Sure thing… yeah… okay, bye." She clicked her phone shut.

"What was that about?" Dan asked.

"Nothing," she muttered, looking at everything but him and biting down on her lower lip. Dan had met Luc, Kay's boyfriend, before and knew she would bite her lip whenever there was something about him she found particularly attractive. Feeling mischievous, he leaned in and huskily whispered, "Was it about me?" making sure his breath ghosted the side of her ear. She visibly stiffened, eyes wide with either surprise or excitement.

"Do I excite you?" he whispered, trailing his fingers up her arm. He hadn't expected her to push him away so suddenly or for her to be a little stronger than she looked. She put about a foot of space between them.

"Pig," she said, glaring at him. But he knew she wasn't really mad. Her voice quivered slightly, and when she turned away and looked back at the TV she went right back to biting her lip, hinting that she enjoyed it. His suspicions were only confirmed when she rubbed the spot where he touched her.

His ego inflated. He felt he held a certain power over her whenever he flustered her knowing she lost her composure when embarrassed or annoyed, and getting her to be either, while it never proved to be a difficult task, was entertaining. His ego swelled even more at the thought that he could attract Kay's attention. Kay was the kind of girl who could get anyone she wanted, much like Paulina from when he was young and half human, only she was actually smart and had a mind of her own, unlike many of his old schoolmates. Even he could admit that he found her attractive, not that he was interested in her or any relationship for that matter.


End file.
